The most popular baby names for 2020 were Aoi (蒼) for boys and Himari (陽葵), according to an annual survey by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co.
The results of the company survey covered about 18,000 children born this year to its customers.
The most popular names for boys contained the kanji character for blue (蒼), which can either be read as Aoi or So. In second place was the character for tree (樹木の樹) which can be pronounced as Itsuki or Tatsuki, and last year’s most popular name, Ren (蓮) meaning lotus.
For girls, the names Himari and Hinata written with the characters (陽葵) for sun and the hibiscus flower hollyhock ranked first. Second was Rin (凛), meaning courteous, which was first in 2019. The third most popular names for girls was Uta (詩) using the kanji character for poem.
Furthermore, four girls' names containing the character 結 (Yui) which means to tie or bind, appeared at the top of the list. This name has been popular since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. According to Meiji Yasuda, the reasoning behind its popularity this year lies in "the emphasis for human connection during the coronavirus pandemic due to the effects of social distancing.”
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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MountingFuji-san
Aoi, sounds painful
OssanAmerica
Good. I was afraid 2020 was going to be 頃納 or similar.
noriahojanen
I wonder how much the insuarance customers represent the whole family with a newborn baby. Overall, shorter names described in a single kanji have been gaining some popularity.
tooheysnew
I thought it may have been コロナ & ワクチン
Pukey2
Why not just write 樹 ?
Remember the old days when girls' names ended in -ko?
nintendogirl
Foreigners will love these names.. because there is no meaning for them lol
But really, call your son as "Blue". Really? Or "Poem"?
New generation prefer different names instead traditional names.. this sucks lol
lucabrasi
You said it... Nintendogirl ; )
kohakuebisu
My JHS daughter has an Aoi in her class, but she's a girl. I also know a couple of boys called Hinata, given in the story as a popular girl's name. So it's all going a bit gender neutral. Judging from the names we gave our kids, me and the missus are a bit more old-fashioned.
OssanAmerica
LOL. The article is saying "Ki" as in "樹木の樹" (Ki as in Juki) as opposed to"Ki" as in 木.
The name is in fact written just 樹.